Casey pays tribute to Commercials but now eyes Cork trip

Monday, November 19, 2012

By Diarmuid O’Flynn

Beaten Clonmel Commercials were well beaten, but even Dr Crokes joint manager Vince Casey was impressed with the manner in which the Tipp side approached yesterday’s provincial club semi final in Killarney.

“We knew that Clonmel would come down and play football, we knew they wouldn’t park the bus and try and defend.

“Most county champions don’t park the bus because it gets you nowhere. In fairness to them, that is the way that Clonmel played all through Tipperary (Championship) and they won it with a very young bunch of players, but as I said to them in the dressing room, they’re at a different stage (of development) than the Crokes.

“We’re an experienced team at this stage, we’ve been around for a while; today is only the start for Commercials. They have a fantastic underage structure up there and they have won the last three county minor titles in a row, won the county senior this year with a lot of young talent coming through, and they play very good football.

“They played football the way it should be played and thankfully there are enough of those types of teams around the country; ultimately, you’ll find those teams that win are the teams who play football.”

Acknowledging they came up against a better team on the day, Commercials manager Philly Ryan explained their philosophy, why playing a negative game never entered their thinking. “This is the Munster club championship, we came to open things up and try to play football, try to express ourselves and I think we showed we can do that.

“The conditions didn’t suit our lads, they’re small and light, but conditions were equally bad for Crokes and they were still able to move the ball, they were that bit slicker than us on the day.

“We’re all very proud of the lads. We know it’s a learning process for this team. Their average age is 22/23, all young fellas. In three or four years, if they want to be back, they will be back on this stage again and they’ll be competing well.

“We have the potential now to go on again, maybe achieve a bit more.”

Meanwhile Dr Crokes expect Daithi Casey, who was concussed yesterday, to be okay for the December 2 Munster final against Cork county champions Castlehaven in Páirc Ui Chaoimh.

“As for Ambrose O’Donovan, we are hoping that he will be back this week after getting the cast off his finger (a fall from a bicycle), we were hoping he would ready for today but I am confident that he will be available Sunday week,” said Vince Casey.